Gov. Rick Scott signs controversial elections overhaul into law

May 19, 2011|By Kathleen Haughney, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott signed a sweeping elections proposal into law Thursday over objections of Democrats and voter-registration groups, who are now likely to take their case to the federal government or the courts.

The new law dramatically overhauls state voting laws by changing longstanding procedures that allow a person to change his or her registration or name at the polling place, puts in new requirements for third-party voter-registration groups and shortens the number of days available for early voting.

The bill is effective immediately and will affect the Miami-Dade local elections, where early voting is already in progress. A Miami-Dade judge will decide whether the local supervisor's decision to cancel early voting was legal because the election started before the bill became law.

The GOP-dominated Legislature billed it as an anti-fraud measure. However, state officials have said there has been little evidence of election fraud during the past few years.

The governor signed the bill without releasing a public statement, but Secretary of State Kurt Browning met with reporters Thursday afternoon and praised the governor's decision.

"We believe that this is a good bill, that this certainly closes up some gaps in our code," he said.

The law restricts early voting to eight days, down from 14, but allows elections supervisors to keep sites open for 12 hours a day so that the current 96 hours of early voting could be retained.

It eliminates a law that allows voters to change their addresses or names at the polls, unless the voter is moving within a county. Others would be forced to cast provisional ballots and then later show up at elections supervisors' offices to prove their identity.

Opponents of the new law have voiced concerns that provisional ballots are sometimes not counted, but Browning said he is issuing an immediate directive to supervisors that provisional ballots are to be counted unless there is fraud or a person is not registered in Florida.

Other proposed changes require third-party voter-registration groups such as the League of Women Voters, unions and the NAACP to turn in voter-registration cards within 48 hours or face fines, which groups have said would be difficult when they register thousands of new voters at a time.

Opponents of the new law have said the legislation would disenfranchise women, college students and black voters. The League and the ACLU have both said they would consider lawsuits.

Deirdre Macnab, president of the League, called the bill a "major step backward," noting that opponents of the bill generated loads of phone calls and emails to the governor's office.

According to records from the governor's office, Scott received 15,443 emails related to the elections overhaul, with the overwhelming majority opposing the bill.

"Clearly voters could read between the lines of this legislation, and that it wasn't going to make this process easier and open for voters," Macnab said.

Legislation affecting voting must get federal approval because five counties — Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe — face extra scrutiny under the Voting Rights Act. The Justice Department's civil-rights division has 60 days determine if provisions are discriminatory.

Browning said the bill will go into effect immediately for the 62 counties not facing review, but that the state's lawyers think the new law will meet with federal approval and then be applied statewide.

Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the House sponsor of the legislation, acknowledged the backlash against the new law, adding that in no way did lawmakers want to discourage participation in the electoral process.

"But we also want to protect the integrity of the election process and I think this bill does that, and I trust that it will withstand any challenges," he said.